Ridley Road

A young Jewish girl leaves her family home for love in London, when shs gets there however her life takes a very different course.

I thought this was a terrific four part series from The BBC, a fascinating, harrowing and incredible story from Britain's history. Not a story many seem to remember.

It is beautifully made, it looks big budget, with a big cast, great sets, and some terrific fashions. I love how they mix in original footage with the new shots, it looks so good.

Pacing is one of the main strengths, it will keep you gripped, and have you on tenterhooks in equal measure.

The acting is terrific all round, Agnes O'Casey, Sam Spiro, Eddie Marsan, and of course Rory Kinnear, who shows his chilling side, don't think I've seen him play a part such as this.

I loved it, served as a warning from history, 9/10.

A mixed bag of actors. Some classy ones and some not so classy. But the script was full of cliches and this adaptation lacked credibility. The neo Nazis seemed more like a dark version of the Keystone Cops. Like Vigil this is another BBC series that promised much but failed to deliver mostly because of the storylines.

Having been brought up about 500 yds from Ridley Rd, I looked forward to seeing this. Having seen the first episode, I am reminded of the wise words of Mark Twain, "The difference between truth and fiction, is that fiction has to be believable. This was not.

I am old enough to remember both Colin Jordan and Oswald Mosley, and in particular, the 1962 "visit" by the latter to Ridley Rd in 1962. This ended within minutes with Mosley receiving a police escort to get him out of the area. I'm not certain, but If that was not his last public appearance, it must have been close to it.

What I don't recall from that period, was that there was a Dalston office of Mossad operating in the area. I know that may seem harsh, but the problem I have with it, is that even as "Faction", it doesn't work for me. When it's gets as specific as naming a real place and a real date, you'd expect to see bits that you can recognise as being "based on a true story". But so far, I've seen nothing of the sort. This bears no resemblance to my recollections of Ridley Road and events in 1962.

Ridley Road is inspired by a real life clash between UK fascists and Jewish Resisters in London's East End in the early 60's. The contemporary parallels are unmissable with antisemitism and racist hate crimes at record levels.

So I was expecting something a lot more dynamic and engaging than the first episode which took forever to get going and kept going off on romantic tangents.

Direction and script were most at fault, lots of really tight frame cropping for some reason and the script was heavy with platitudes and clunky exposition and short on action. The score was odd, lots of curious mood music that didn't reflect the period or add much.

Cast were uneven but generally good, the lead character was too passive, it didn't seem to be her story. All in all a bit disappointing.

Very loosely based on true events, not historically accurate, and melodramatic, I nevertheless loved the PBS four-part miniseries Ridley Road to the point of getting up and cheering or yelling, "get out of there," during some of the action sequences.

Vivian Epstein, (alias Jane Carpenter), a twenty-three-year-old Jewish woman from Manchester, England sneaks off to London to follow her boyfriend James, (alias Peter Fox), when he mysteriously leaves town. She wants out of a marriage arranged by her parents and to be with the man she loves.

Vivian, who works as a hairdresser in Soho, learns that James is working undercover in the National Socialist Movement in order to inform resisters of the groups planned actions. The NSM violently targets and kills Jews. Vivian dyes her brunette hair blonde and becomes a spy in the Jewish resistance movement the 62 group, (headquartered on Ridley Road), first to find James, and then because anti-fascists DO rather than just sitting on the sidelines and talking. Vivian, who becomes fearless in her mission to save lives, gains the trust of NSM leader Colin Jordan. This gives her access to private conversations and offices in the NSM headquarters.

The series is a blend of romance, action, and political thriller. Part of the fun and impact of the series is it's unapologetic good versus bad trope, highlighting the bravery of the resistance fighters in general, and Vivian and James in particular.

Agnes O'Casey as Vivian enjoys a rollicking star turn in her first production. I will watch for her in other projects.